He
was enjoying a romp in the woods north of the city. Chasing rabbits
and deer but not really hunting. Feral was ghosting through a thick
patch of blueberry bushes, not making a sound when his nose picked up
something really foul and unfamiliar.

Following
the scent and careful not to reveal himself, he came upon a cave in
the side of the mountain he'd been skirting for the last few hours.
The nasty scent was coming from within the cave. It was very strong
and set his fur to rise. Cautiously, he crept closer and tried to
peer into the dark interior without exposing himself.

Feral
froze when he heard a faint hiss followed by some muttering and odd
slithering sounds. He crouched down, not quite willing to meet
whatever it was. He waited patiently, unwilling to leave until he
knew what was going on.

It
seemed for a while nothing was going to come out. He stirred
restlessly and prepared to leave, thinking to alert his enforcers and
coming back with a squad to check it out properly when it finally
appeared. Feral felt his hackles rise and his
were
half wanted to tear away in blind panic. He forced it to stay and
watch as the thing poured out of the cave and into the late sunshine.

It
was huge and nasty looking. It appeared as nothing more than a
bluish-black blob standing more than ten feet tall with four strange
whip-like tentacles for arms. There were no sign of eyes, nose, or
mouth, that is until a wide chasm opened in its upper half revealing
greenish-yellow fangs filling the 'mouth'. It made a loud
hissing noise like a tea kettle.

Feral
shuddered where he lay hidden under the bushes. The creature sat
there for some minutes before finally moving off, thankfully away
from where he was hiding. He waited tensely for nearly ten minutes
before turning tail and racing back to where he'd left his clothes,
radio, and vehicle.

Despite
running full out, it still took him a good fifteen minutes to reach
his hummer. Altering his shape back to Kat, he jumped inside and
paused. He should call the enforcers but it was nothing like some of
the things they'd fought before nor could his werekat
brethren aid in this either. He really didn't want to get his mate
involved but there was no doubt that Jeraz had seen many things while
traveling the universe and it might be likely that his technology
could take care of this thing with fewer casualties. That decided
him.

Taking
out a special type of communicator given to him by his mate, he
activated it.

"Yes
my love, is something amiss." Came the musical tones of his alien
mate.

His
voice suddenly deepening with concern, Jeraz demanded, "Describe it
while I obtain your location from my ship."

Feral
quickly described the creature and heard a grunt of repressed anger
and shock from his mate.

"You
know what this is?" He asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately,
yes. I encountered one of those things many years ago in another
galaxy. Deadly and single-minded creatures bent on conquest. They
rape a planet of its riches, slaughtering its inhabitants before
moving on to another planet. Even more destructive than those
Ci-Kat-A that decimated my home and nearly tried to do the same to
yours." He explained grimly. "You only saw one?"

"Yes!"
Feral confirmed, shakened. He'd never even considered that the
thing could have come from space because there were too many
experiments gone wrong running around their planet without looking
for something even more weird out there.

"Must
be a scout! We've got to destroy it and send it's ship back out
as a warning to its kind that we are not to be trifled with. I'd
better stay here and make some calls. Come home Uly as fast as you
can. We must plan." Jeraz said tightly before closing the
connection.

Feral
looked at the communicator in surprise. Jeraz sound angry and
afraid. This was not good. He quickly yanked on a pair of jeans
then strapped himself in and raced back to the city. More than an
hour later he arrived at their penthouse apartment. Jeraz was on the
phone speaking to someone.

Feral
was carrying the rest of his clothes when he entered their home.
Cocking an eye at his mate, he tossed his clothes onto the couch and
listened to the conversation.

"You
heard me! It's a threat to the entire world not just Megakat City.
I'm going to need your technical knowhow and fighting skills plus
your formidable jet. The enforcers and werekats
are also going to be needed to rid Aristal of this thing. We must
work together and there isn't much time. Meet Feral and I at
Enforcer Headquarters in an hour and, Razor...load up your jet
with everything you've got." Jeraz said tightly.

He
got an acknowledgment from Razor then hung up. His mate was glaring
at him in shock.

"The
SWAT Kats?! Why were you involving them in this?" Feral growled
angrily.

"Set
your animosity aside, Uly. I told you it would take a concerted
effort to destroy this thing. Next to me, the SWAT Kats have a
technological edge your enforcers don't. The enforcers and
werekats
are going to be the hunters and most likely the bait to get that
thing where we can take it out without trashing the city or getting
katizens killed." He told Feral bluntly.

Feral
gaped at him and a shiver of fear slithered down his spine. "It's
that deadly?" He whispered.

"Yes!"
Jeraz said heavily. "Better get ready to leave, love. We need to
take Tanith and Ryan to Werekat
headquarters
for their safety.

Swallowing
hard, realizing their three month old kits could be orphaned if
things went bad, Feral nodded and headed to their kitten's room.
Tanith was awake and Ryan was just waking up beside him. Feral
reached in and lifted Tanith out and took him to the changing table.

He
was joined a moment later by Jeraz who picked up Ryan and brought him
next to his brother. The parents quickly changed diapers and dressed
their little ones. While Jeraz carried them out to the living area,
Feral quickly packed a kitten bag for them then dressed himself in
his uniform.

Walking
past his mate, who was putting the kittens in their carriers, Ulysses
went to the kitchen to retrieve the milk he had expressed earlier.
He could hear the kittens just starting hungry cries as he warmed
their milk. He grabbed four more bottles he'd frozen and placed
them in an insulated bag then snatched up the warmed milk and headed
back out to the living area.

Jeraz
took one of the bottles and coaxed Ryan to take it while Ulysses gave
the other to Tanith. Once their kittens were happily sucking down
their lunch, their parents quickly slung their carriers on their arms
and made their way back down to Feral's hummer. They were soon
rushing to mid town to drop off the kittens.

They
managed to luck out getting a parking spot less than a block from The
White Tiger Club. The kittens were full and happy as they were
carried up the steps to the club. The guard butler smiled down at
them as he let their parents in.

"Is
Tam in, it's urgent we see him?" Feral asked quickly.

The
guard blinked in surprise but answered readily, "You're in luck
he just came in an hour ago. Should be in his office."

"Would
you call Clarise. We need her to take care of the twins." Feral
told him as he and Jeraz headed for the stairs. The guard gave a
quick acknowledgment.

Jeraz
opened the outer door to the leader of the werekats
office. The secretary looked up in pleased surprise. "Ohh...you
brought the twins." She cooed coming around her desk to look at
them.

"Klara,
we need to see Tam urgently. Would you mind watching the twins until
Clarise gets here to take care of them?" Feral asked as he and
Jeraz put the kitten's carriers down on the sofa and their gear.

"Oh
I'd love to. You need to see Tam, you said. Let me check!" She
said quickly as she knocked on the door instead of going back to her
desk intercom. A rumble came from within and she slipped inside.
Moments later she was back.

"Go
right on in. I'll take care of these little guys." She smiled as
she moved to the twins to distract them from their parents departure.
Feral nodded gratefully at her and followed his mate into Tam's
office.

The
white tiger mix eyed them in concern as the pair came up to his desk.

"Tam,
we've come on a matter of dire urgency. Please hear me out
completely before you interrupt." Jeraz said tightly. Tam nodded
and settled to listen. Jeraz gave him the grim details of what
Ulysses had found in the woods.

As
expected, Tam was shocked and concerned. "So we have another alien
visitor who isn't here to say hello." He said with grim humor
once he'd recovered from his initial shock.

"I'd
rather explain it to all parties involved. We are meeting the SWAT
Kats and top enforcers at Enforcer Headquarters. Please take whoever
you want with you if you feel the need but we must leave
immediately." Jeraz urged the werekat
leader.

"My
second is right here so I don't need anyone else at this moment. So
let's be off." Tam said briskly getting up from behind his desk.

Nodding
in relief, Jeraz led the way out the office door. He and Feral
paused a moment to kiss their kittens farewell and give instructions
to Clarise as Tam told his secretary where he'd be, then they
headed out. Tam decided it made sense to just go with the pair so
they climbed into Feral's hummer and headed uptown to Enforcer
Headquarters.

They
arrived ten minutes later at huge imposing building. Climbing
quickly out of their vehicle, they rushed up the stairs for the big
doors then strode swiftly toward the elevators while Feral's
enforcers watched them with trepidation. Word had already spread
that something big was happening.

They
decanted on his office floor and hurried to a conference room just
down from it. Opening the door they found his squadron leaders
sitting at the conference table while the SWAT Kats leaned indolently
against the windows nearby. Ms. Briggs was also there, sitting
tensely at the head of the table.

"Sit
down SWAT Kats. Jeraz will brief us on this new danger to the city
and to Aristal." Feral said gruffly, sitting next to Ms. Briggs.

The
SWAT Kats took two chairs at the end of the table and ignored the
hostile looks they received from the enforcers near them. The
enforcers were confused as to why the Werekat
leader
and their alien katizen were on hand for this meeting.

Jeraz
stood between Ms. Briggs and Feral and looked at everyone gravely.

"Earlier
this morning, my mate had a close encounter with an alien visitor.
I'm truly grateful his were
senses
warned him to keep his distance from this creature or he would not be
here now." Jeraz said grimly. "At the same time, we're
extremely lucky he had decided to take his morning constitutional in
the northern woods or we would not have known of this danger until
far too late. That said, I'm here to brief you on this thing which
I've had the misfortune of encountering years ago on the far side
of the galaxy."

Jeraz
paused a moment and studied the faces around him. There were grim
expressions on the SWAT Kats faces and confusion and fear on the
faces of the others.

"If
you thought the Ci-Kat-A were bad this thing is far worse. So far as
we are able to determine only a scout has landed. I never knew what
they were called only that all other stellar races avoided them or
destroyed the scout before it could summon more of its kind that
would rape, ravage and decimate the inhabitants of any world they
could get a toe hold on." He laid out the danger then went on to
describe their enemy.

"They
are very hard to kill and the best description of them is a
bluish-black blob standing more than ten feet tall with four
appendages that resemble whip-like tentacles. There are no visible
eyes, nose, or mouth. But it's mouth is invisible until it opens
and you get a view of a big maw filled with greenish-yellow fangs.
It makes a loud hissing noise like a tea kettle. It's skin is
nearly impenetrable. Neither fire nor cold bother it, nor do lasers
or propellent weapons. It can move extremely fast and those tentacles
can cut through metal and are strong enough to lift a tank." He
said flatly.

"Well
crud! Then how do you expect us to destroy that thing?" T-Bone
barked in frustration which was echoed by the enforcers.

"That
is why we're having this meeting. To figure out how to defeat it
and send it and its ship back into space as a warning to its kind to
stay away from us." Jeraz said cooly.

"Well
this is great...not!" Razor muttered sarcastically.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.